Prosecutions for March 2025
Referring Agency: Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives
The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during March 2025 the government reported 759 new prosecutions for these matters. Those cases were referred by the Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. According to the case-by-case information analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), this number is up 8 percent over the previous month.
The comparisons of the number of defendants charged are based on case-by-case information obtained by TRAC under the Freedom of Information Act from the Executive Office for United States Attorneys (see Table 1).
When monthly 2025 prosecutions of this type are compared with those of the same period in the previous year, the number of filings was up (7%). Prosecutions over the past year are still much lower than they were five years ago. Overall, the data show that prosecutions of this type are down 23.7 percent from levels reported in 2020.
Figure 1. Monthly Trends in Prosecutions
The decrease from the levels five years ago in prosecutions for these matters is shown more clearly in Figure 1. The vertical bars in Figure 1 represent the number of prosecutions of this type recorded on a month-to-month basis. Where a prosecution was initially filed in U.S. Magistrate Court and then transferred to the U.S. District Court, the magistrate filing date was used since this provides an earlier indicator of actual trends. The superimposed line on the bars plots the six-month moving average so that natural fluctuations are smoothed out. The one and five-year rates of change in Table 1 and in the sections that follow are all based upon this six-month moving average. To view trends year-by-year rather than month-by-month, see TRAC's annual report series for a broader picture.
Cases were classified by prosecutors into more specific types.
The largest number of prosecutions of these matters in March 2025 was for "Weapons-Operation Triggerlock Major", accounting for 60.3 percent of prosecutions. Prosecutions were also filed for "Withheld by Govt from TRAC (FOIA challen" (22.9%), "Drugs-Drug Trafficking" (10.1%), "Violence-Other" (2.2%). See Figure 2.
Prosecutions in U.S. Magistrate Courts
Top Ranked Lead Charges
In March 2025, 120 defendants in cases for these matters were filed in U.S. Magistrate Courts. These courts handle less serious misdemeanor cases, including what are called "petty offenses." In addition, complaints are sometimes filed in the magistrate courts before an indictment or information is entered. In these cases, the matter starts in the magistrate courts and later moves to the district court where subsequent proceedings take place.
In the magistrate courts in March the most frequently cited lead charge was Title 18 U.S.C Section 922 involving "Firearms; Unlawful acts". This was the lead charge for 56.7 percent of all magistrate filings in March.
Other frequently prosecuted lead charges include: "21 USC 841 - Drug Abuse Prevention & Control-Prohibited acts A" (14.2%), "Other US Code Section" (5.8%).
Prosecutions in U.S. District Courts
In March 2025, 639 defendants in new cases for these matters were charged in the U.S. District Courts. In addition during March there were an additional 109 defendants whose cases moved from the magistrate courts to the U.S. district courts after an indictment or information was filed. The sections which follow cover both sets of cases and therefore cover all matters filed in district court during March.
Top Ranked Lead Charges
Table 2 shows the top lead charges recorded in the prosecutions of matters filed in U.S. District Court during March 2025 referred by the Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Lead Charge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago 18 USC 922 - Firearms; Unlawful acts 415 1 1 1 More 21 USC 841 - Drug Abuse Prevention & Control-Prohibited acts A 63 2 2 2 More 18 USC 924 - Firearms; Penalties 16 4 6 6 More 21 USC 846 - Attempt and conspiracy 14 5 4 3 More 18 USC 1951 - Hobbs Act 10 6 5 4 More 18 USC 2119 - Carjacking 8 7 9 8 More 26 USC 5861 - Tax on Making Firearms - Prohibited acts 6 8 7 7 More 18 USC 371 - Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud US 3 9 8 9 More 18 USC 844 - Explosives - Importation and storage of explosives 3 9 10 10 More Table 2. Top Charges Filed
"Firearms; Unlawful acts" (Title 18 U.S.C Section 922) was the most frequent recorded lead charge. "Firearms; Unlawful acts" (Title 18 U.S.C Section 922) was ranked 1 a year ago, while it was ranked 1 five years ago.
Ranked 2nd in frequency was the lead charge "Drug Abuse Prevention & Control-Prohibited acts A" under Title 21 U.S.C Section 841. "Drug Abuse Prevention & Control-Prohibited acts A" under Title 21 U.S.C Section 841 was ranked 2 a year ago, while it was ranked 2 five years ago.
Ranked 3rd was "Other US Code Section" under Title U.S.C Section. "Other US Code Section" under Title U.S.C Section was ranked 3 a year ago, while it was ranked 5 five years ago.
Among these top ten lead charges, the one showing the greatest increase in prosecutions — up 8.2 percent — compared to one year ago was Title U.S.C Section that involves "Other US Code Section ". This was the same statute that had the largest increase — 45.9 % — when compared with five years ago.
Again among the top ten lead charges, the one showing the sharpest decline in prosecutions compared to one year ago — down 66.7 percent — was " Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud US " (Title 18 U.S.C Section 371 ). Compared to five years ago, the most significant decline in prosecutions — 73.1 percent — was for filings where the lead charge was " Attempt and conspiracy " (Title 21 U.S.C Section 846 ).
Top Ranked Judicial Districts
In March 2025 the Justice Department's case-by-case records show that the government brought 268 prosecutions for every ten million people in the United States.
Understandably, there is great variation in the per capita number of prosecutions that are filed in each of the nation's ninety-four federal judicial districts.
The districts registering the largest number of prosecutions per capita for these matters last month are shown in Table 3. Districts must have at least 5 prosecutions to receive a ranking.
Judicial District Percapita Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago N Car, M 1,369 36 1 12 24 More W Virg, S 1,137 8 2 57 72 More Ala, N 1,104 28 3 18 10 More Montana 1,059 10 4 13 38 More Ala, S 966 7 5 42 63 More Okla, E 966 6 5 60 74 More Miss, S 909 14 7 41 51 More Ken, E 697 13 8 37 12 More W Virg, N 648 5 9 33 36 More Ken, W 629 12 10 25 39 More Table 3. Top 10 Districts (per ten million people)
The Middle District of North Carolina (Greensboro) — with 1369 prosecutions as compared with 268 prosecutions per ten million population in the United States — was the most active during March 2025.
The Southern District of West Virginia (Charleston) ranked 2nd.
Northern District of Alabama (Birmingham) is now ranking 3rd.
Recent entrants to the top 10 list were Middle District of North Carolina (Greensboro), now ranked 1st , and Montana at 4th In the same order, these districts ranked 12th and 13th one year ago and 24th and 38th five years ago.
The federal judicial district which showed the greatest growth in the rate of prosecutions compared to one year ago — 70.8 percent — was Eastern District of Oklahoma (Muskogee). This was the same district that had the largest increase — 141.2 percent — when compared with five years ago.
In the last year, the judicial District Court recording the largest drop in the rate of prosecutions — 38.6 percent — was Montana . But over the past five years, Eastern District of Kentucky (Lexington) showed the largest drop — 50 percent.
Top Ranked District Judges
At any one time, there are about 680 federal District Court judges working in the United States. The judges recorded with the largest number of new crime cases of this type during March 2025 are shown in Table 4.
Judge Count Rank Liburdi, Michael Thomas Arizona 14 1 More Counts, Walter David, III Texas, W 11 2 More Bell, Kenneth Davis, Sr. N Car, W 8 3 More Smith, Rodney Fla, S 7 4 More Leitman, Matthew Frederick Mich, E 7 4 More Haikala, Madeline H. Ala, N 6 6 More Maze, Corey Landon Ala, N 6 6 More Van Tatenhove, Gregory Frederick Ken, E 6 6 More Padova, John R. Penn, E 6 6 More Guaderrama, David C. Texas, W 6 6 More Table 4. Top Ten Judges
A total of 3 out of the "top ten" judges were in districts which were in the top ten with the largest number of filings per capita, while the remaining 7 judges were from other districts.
Judge Michael Thomas Liburdi in the District of Arizona ranked 1st with 14 defendants in cases.
Judge Walter David Counts, III in the Western District of Texas (San Antonio) ranked 2nd with 11 defendants in cases.
Judge Kenneth Davis Bell, Sr. in the Western District of North Carolina (Asheville) ranked 3rd with 8 defendants in cases.
Report Generated: May 14, 2025
